recruitment

We must start playing hardball to meet our staffing challenges

The sector can’t keep selling itself cheap if it wants to fill its staffing vacancies with high-quality talent and...

JL Dutaut
Ian Pryce
Politics

This budget delivers for FE learners and the sector

FE faces a financial struggle but government is committed to supporting the sector as we build a skills and...

Shane Chowen
Robert Halfon MP
Spring budget

Budget 2023: A competent affair but with glaring missed opportunities

John Cope distils yesterday’s announcements to find a budget lacking in expansive vision and visible expenditure, but with encouraging...

JL Dutaut
John Cope
Diversity

The FE sector has a key role to play to support gender equality in the workplace. Here’s how

Kirstie Donnelly sets out the case for going further to support young women into higher-earning careers, and three steps...

JL Dutaut
Kirstie Donnelly
The Staffroom - opinion

The Staffroom: Making friends and allies to crack the challenge of work experience

With a nationwide challenge to increase work placement quantity and quality, it’s time for the sector to call in...

JL Dutaut
Dan Phillips
recruitment

Stop relying on more funding. Providers need to solve their own recruitment problems

There are a raft of measures FE providers can take to improve rectruitment that don’t rely on extra funding...

JL Dutaut
Alex Lockey
Apprenticeships

Our skills system is a long way from meeting the economy’s needs

The levy and other reforms have failed to deliver an apprenticeships system that works for those who need it...

JL Dutaut
Graham Hasting-Evans
Apprenticeships

AAC 2023: We’re at a pivotal moment to reshape apprenticeships

The Annual Apprenticeship Conference 2023 might be over, but from functional skills to social mobility, there's a lot to...

Shane Chowen
Kirstie Donnelly
Lifelong Learning

The devil lurks in the detail of government’s lifelong loan response

Some clarity on the lifelong loan entitlement is welcome, but the debate over access to lifelong learning is far...

Shane Chowen
Gordon Marsden